Lawsuit: Funeral Home Returns Mom's Brain With Personal Items

According to a lawsuit filed in New Mexico State District Court in Albuquerque, a woman’s brain was returned to her family in a bag of personal effects.

From AP:

The Albuquerque Journal first reported about the lawsuit, filed Monday in state District Court in Albuquerque. According to the complaint, the woman’s relatives “smelled a foul odor coming from the bag” they received from DeVargas Funeral Home and Crematory of the Espanola Valley.

The woman, identified by her initials M.F.R., died in a car accident in Utah on Sept. 28.

Two funeral homes are currently blaming each other for the mishap, and a shipping company is also named in the lawsuit.

One of the funeral home owners explains why the brain was in a bag:

“Rather than try to reinsert the brain into a damaged head, it is common practice to ship it inside a bag,” he said. “If we put it back in (the head), it could have been a soggy, leaky mess.”